Brazilian series now streaming on HBO MAX
Forty years after becoming a popular phenomenon, Dona Beja once again circulates powerfully in the Brazilian imagination, now with a new cast and a different historical sensibility. The character who set television ablaze in the 1980s is revisited in a completely different industrial and cultural context, with a promise of greater inclusion and on a platform that reaches beyond Brazil. This distance does more than update the narrative; it opens space for a question the original 1986 version was not obliged to sustain in depth, because the country as a whole was occupied with other debates. Who, after all, was Dona Beja before she became legend, scandal, collective fantasy, and, later, an audiovisual product?
Here is an in-depth overview of both versions (1986 and 2026) as well as the woman who inspired the story.
Grazi Massafera gave perhaps the best nude performance of the young year so far, although I tend to favor Llúcia Garcia in Romería. I try not to be too judgmental about female bodies, but I just don’t like Grazi’s bad boob job.
Grazi Massafera in episode 1
Grazi Massafera in episode 2
Grazi Massafera in episode 3
Grazi Massafera in episode 4
Grazi Massafera in episode 5
There was some nudity from others as well:
Rita Pereira in episode 3
Catharina Caiado in episode 4
Erika Januza in episode 4
Grazi Massafera is a huge celebrity in Brazil, with many followers. This particular production is from HBO and is only at the beginning; there are still many episodes to come. It might surprise many people that a celebrity of this stature would still expose herself to such explicit nude scenes nowadays; perhaps only she, Sydney Sweeney, and a few others can do that. And, once again, that’s what I’m saying: the problem isn’t HBO or other production companies that don’t want or censor explicit nude scenes; the problem is that not all celebrities nowadays are willing to do such explicit nude scenes. Do you think they would prefer to have Zendaya in Euphoria and accept the fact that she won’t be nude, or hire an actress who agrees to be nude but isn’t as popular as Zendaya? Of course, they won’t dismiss the celebrity; they’ll dismiss the nude scene that the actress in question might not agree to do explicitly.